Thursday, March 1, 2012

The Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street

Exile on Main St. is the tenth British and 12th American studio album by English rock band The Rolling Stones. Released as a double LP in May 1972, it draws on many genres including rock and roll, blues, soul, R&B, gospel and country. The release of Exile on Main St. met with mixed reviews, but it is now generally regarded as the band's best album. In 2003, the album was ranked 7th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, the highest a Rolling Stones album ranked on the list.

A remastered version of the album was released in Europe on 17 May 2010 and in the United States on 18 May 2010, featuring 10 new tracks, including "Plundered My Soul", "Dancing in the Light", "Following the River" and "Pass the Wine" as well as alternative versions of "Soul Survivor" and "Loving Cup"

Exile on Main St. was written and recorded between 1968 and 1972. Mick Jagger said "After we got out of our contract with Allen Klein, we didn't want to give him [those earlier tracks]," as they were forced to do with Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" from Sticky Fingers. Many tracks were recorded between 1969 and 1971 at Olympic Studios and Jagger's Stargroves country house in England during sessions for Sticky Fingers.

By the spring of 1971 the Rolling Stones owed more in taxes than they could pay and left Britain before the government could seize their assets. Mick Jagger settled in Paris with his new bride Bianca, and guitarist Keith Richards rented a villa, Nellcôte, in Villefranche-sur-Mer, near Nice. The other members settled the south of France. Because a suitable recording studio was relocatable in the south France that would be suitable to record more tracks to complete the next album, Richards' basement at Nellcôte became a makeshift studio to record using the band's mobile recording truck